SSV Tewkesbury
by Sci-Fi Sovereign
Summary: My first fic, not a good title because I can't think of one. Started writing for my own fun. Please review,I want to know what other people think.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Drake System, Skyllian Vergfe, Edge of Alliance space, 25th May 2190

The SSV Tewkesbury dropped out of FTL and decelerated to cruising speed. The Agincourt class vessel was on a routine patrol, acting both as a show of force and as a rapid response force to aid any human colonies in the immediate area which came under attack.

Commander Adam Davies stood in the pulpit of the CIC where he was overseeing the deceleration. "Take us into orbit around the pressure cooker Lisa." He addressed the helmsman seated at the console several feet in front of him.

"Roger that sir." she replied, engaging the ship's thrusters.

The commander stepped down from his podium and retreated towards the stern where his quarters were situated. That was the moment of impact.

"We're under attack!" Lisa roared, "Kinetic barriers are offline, hull breach in the upper deck, venting atmosphere!"

"Get it sealed off!" Davies replied and activated the intercom: "All hands to battle stations!"

It was a command that proved to be unnecessary, the ship was already consumed in a flurry of action with crewmen manning their assorted stations.

"Someone alert Elysium, the Admiral needs to know what's happening." Davies said.

"Comms are down sir, they're jamming us." Lisa informed him.

"Can we get an IFF on that ship?" the Commander inquired.

"Negative, unknown classification!" The Navigator, one Lieutenant Klaus Smith responded, "It's nothing I've ever seen before"

Adam glared at the screen depicting their assailant. It was a large vessel, between cruiser and dreadnought size.

"Lisa, we need to get back into FTL!"

"Roger that sir, awaiting co-ordinates."

"We don't have time for that Commander!" Klaus pointed back to the screen where their enemy was moving. Fast.

"Their thruster burn is going to bring them on an intercept course, they're going to try to get behind us and smash up the engines!"

"Lisa, take evasive action, fire control get some guns on that ship, Smith why aren't you calculating FTL co-ordinates?"

The crew sprung into action, as Lisa manoeuvred the bow of the ship to bring the main gun into play, the gunnery officer's fingers danced over the haptic interface in front of her, the console beeped thrice in rapid succession and the gunnery officer slammed the fire button.

The mass accelerator shifted a twenty kilogram ferrous slug to approximately a sixth of the speed of light, impacting with the equivalent force of 18 kilotons of TNT, and had absolutely no effect on the incoming ship which simply shrugged off the attack as though they'd thrown a small pebble.

Without warning, the enemy ship banked sharply towards the Tewkesbury and unleashed a salvo of torpedoes.

Lisa through the ship in to a series of manoeuvres designed to break the target lock the ship at established without alerting the Tewkesbury's sensors.

It was a futile attempt and the torpedoes slammed into the frigate all along the port side.

"Damage report!" The Commander demanded.

"Port sub-light thrusters offline, hull breaches in several compartments, major damage to the aft of the ship." Klaus reported, "FTL vectors co-ordinated, ready to jump to light speed at your command sir."

"Very good! Lisa, make it happen."

"We're being hailed sir, do you want me to jump anyway?"

"Negative, I'll take the call here."

"Roger sir." Lisa tapped the controls and a distorted image appeared on the main screen.

"Greetings human, I hope you're enjoying your final moments?"

The voice was deep, with a scratching quality to it.

"I demand to know who dares to attack and alliance war vessel!" The Commander shouted.

"Foolish human, if I wanted you to know I wouldn't be scrambling my image. However, that doesn't stop me thinking I ought to know who it is I'm about to annihilate..."

"I am Commander Adam Davies of the SSV Tewkesbury, and I demand that you cease your attack and inhibition of our communications systems."

"Why is it," the captain of the other vessel began, almost thoughtfully, "that humans in command of a vessel which is utterly defeated, always try to regain their situation by making demands they are in no way able to enforce?"

This left everyone on the bridge somewhat at a loss for what to say.

"It is inconsequential," the scrambled image said, "although intriguing nonetheless. Well human I'm glad you afforded me this opportunity for small talk, but it really must come to an end. Goodbye, Commander Davies, and make peace with whatever heathen god you worship."

The calm, casual manner of the captain's speech belied the malicious actions which were to follow his words. The front of the strange vessel aligned its bow with the midsection of the Tewkesbury and unleashed another of the devastating rounds from its main gun. The Tewkesbury was immediately rent asunder, the stern spinning off from the bow, and falling out of orbit, towards the pressure cooker below.

The bow was more fortunate. Most of the crew were towards the midship were killed instantly but others were alive to hear the Commander's order to abandon ship, shortly before the alien craft unleashed its third and final mass accelerated slug, blasting the entire bow apart.

Debris floated freely in the surrounding space, the momentum it gained from the blast not dissipating due to the zero-atmosphere environment.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter one- A very bad day.

Alliance Cluster HQ, Elysium, Skyllian Verge, 27th May 2190

"How long have they missing?" Admiral Gregory Shepard inquired.

"Approximately 40 standard hours sir, they didn't check in at the comm-buoy in the Drake system."

The man sitting opposite Shepard was Staff Lieutenant Erik Svenson. He had arranged the appointment citing a matter of some urgency. It was not often that Shepard dealt with anything other than administrative duties. Since the defeat of the Reapers, humanity was recognised as the foremost military power in the Galaxy. They had taken over the majority share of responsibility for the council fleet, as well as leading efforts throughout council space to restore the settled planets to the safe, and ultimately civilised state that they had been in prior to the reaper invasion. The Systems Alliance was now the head of the council, rather than the Asari, whose economy and infrastructure reduced them to the level of the Salarians. This was a massive drop in status for the Asari, but did not make much difference to their overall galactic standing, they were now number two rather than number one.

The example of the Asari Republics does not effectively represent the changes that had occurred in the galaxy.

Every species had been decimated by the Reapers. Whilst their combined strength had led to the annihilation of the Reapers, council races had taken massive losses, both military and civilian. Distant colonies were largely obliterated although core systems were left mostly intact. The greatest loss by any species had to be that of the Turians who lost their biggest colony when four Reapers fired their mass-accelerators at the planet, wiping out all life on the planet and causing a nuclear winter. All 4 billion inhabitants were killed. The Reapers surprised and surrounded the planet and destroyed any vessels that tried to escape.

Not all was negative about the conflict. It had fostered greater unity between species and had led to the restoration of the Quarian and Krogan embassies to the Citadel. Weapons and technology research was bound to occur soon enough, when the scientists had spent enough time with captured Reaper technology to produce something useable.

The Commander returned to the real world from his short-lived consideration of Galactic politics. And asked the Staff Lieutenant another question:

"Was there any indication of what happened to them? Distress beacon? Any signs of battle?"

"Early scans were negative but the cruiser the _Dresden_ picked this up." Svenson slid a datapad over the desk to Shepard, who picked it up.

"That's a lot of metal to be suddenly on the surface..."

"Indeed sir."

"Equivalent to about half a frigate I'd say..." Shepard said ponderously, as though it was mere coincidence.

"My thoughts exactly sir."

"So you'd like me to authorise a search and rescue mission to the planet's surface am I right?"

"Indeed sir, I think it's worth searching the area for signs of what happened to the ship."

"And survivors, Lieutenant, don't forget the survivors."

"Sir that planet has atmospheric density in excess of 18 Earth atmospheres, there's no way they'd survive outside a specially constructed hull, even with environmental suits." Svenson said with a look which clearly demonstrated his incredulity that the Admiral had suggested such a thing.

"That's certainly a rational assessment of the situation, Lieutenant but we must never ignore the possibility of impossible occurring. And in any case, the crew of that ship deserve us to make every effort we can for them, not just dismiss the possibility of their survival." Shepard said, somewhat sternly.

"Yes sir, sorry sir."

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention Staff Lieutenant, I'll dispatch a suitably equipped vessel to investigate, dismissed."

"Thank you sir." Svenson stood and saluted, a gesture which was returned, before departing.

Shepard turned back to his terminal and started writing a message:

To: .personal

From: .personal

RE: (_Subject_)

Priority: High

Classification: Top Secret

Anderson,

Need to talk urgently. Threat to Alliance war vessels in Skyllian Verge. Possible loss of frigate SSV Tewekesbury to hostile action.

Shepard

As soon as the message was sent, Shepard started a transmission to the only other person worth talking to about this.

"Initiate transmission: 'Shadow Broker' " Shepard said to his computer. A few seconds later a familiar blue face filled the screen.

"Shepard, what can I do for you?" Liara T'Soni was smiling at Shepard and appeared to be relaxing in her base which she had usurped from the second Shadow Broker.

"Big problems." Shepard said bluntly "An alliance frigate was reported missing for the last 40 hours. A large amount of metal and other materials associated with starship construction has been located on the surface. I'm about to dispatch a search and rescue team, but I want to know if any of your agents have picked anything up."

"Not that I've been made aware of yet." Liara looked concerned, "Is there a possibility of Reaper involvement?"

"I was under the impression that the tally of Reapers destroyed matched that of Reapers encountered." Shepard said.

"But that in no way precludes the possibility of one them being sent to hide and further their plans in another way." Liara countered.

"If that were the case then they'd wait much longer, wait long enough for us to forget about them, work behind the scenes. Sovereign was working for more than a millennium before he recruited Saren."

"Perhaps you're right, and another Reaper could have made all the difference in combat, they thought they were going to win hands down, there's no reason for them to hold one of themselves back." Liara agreed.

"Which leaves us with no leads," Shepard sighed, "keep me posted about anything that comes up will you Liara?"

"Of course, Shepard, do you have time for personal conversation or are you currently engaged."

"I wish I could talk Liara but I've got to alert the rest of the Admiralty and dispatch that search and rescue vessel."

"Alright Shepard, I'll talk to you later." Liara difsconnected, offering one last smile.

Shepard sighed and rotated his chair back to his terminal and tapped out a message to all the Admirals of the Alliance Navy, including his immediate superior, Admiral of the Fleet Mikhailovitz. Shepard sighed once more. Mikhailovitz had hated him since he took command of the Normandy SR1 and had refused him access on account of his demeanour. It was times like this that he missed Steven Hackett, who at this point would have held Mikhailovitz' position, was killed in action against the Reapers in orbit above Palaven. He used his dreadnought to screen the planet from a Reaper bombardment, which after two successive hits, led to the dreadnought's destruction, but allowed reinforcements to arrive to engage the Reapers.

He then began a transmission, to order the search and rescue.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter two- New Orders

SSV Derby, Elysium, Skyllian Verge, 27th May 2190f

"Captain, there's a transmission for you, Admiral Shepard wants a word."

"Roger that patch him through."

"Captain Wells, I know you and your crew are due some shore-leave but I have new orders for you." A collective groan went up around the CIC. Wells however, remained professional:

"What's so urgent sir, my crew has been waiting a long time."

"An Alliance frigate, the SSV Tewkesbury has been listed MIA, and it's possible that the wreckage is out in the Drake system. You're the only vessel equipped with a Crush Depth Atmospheric Reconnaissance Vehicle that is available for deployment. I promise you won't be assigned long term, just to this one search and rescue, once that's done you get shore-leave and a half. I'm assigning the frigates SSV Jutland and the SSV Thermopylae as an escort. Let me know what you find. Shepard out."

Captain Wells let the professional facade collapse and sighed bitterly to himself. Time to tell the wife to take the kids on holiday without me he thought. He barked orders to the helmsman and retired to his quarters. As the helmsman disengaged the docking clamps and the ship slid away from the space dock, Wells fired up his personal terminal and began a transmission.

"Harry! I'm so glad you could get leave for this, when are you going to be down here? The kids are all packed and we're just waiting for you..." His wife's excited rambling trailed off as she saw the look on his face.

"You're not going to make it this time are you?" She sighed dejectedly, "Why is it always you who gets the next assignment?"

"Fuck knows, I'll make it up to you all soon. We all get extra leave on our return so we'll be able to do something then."

"Yeah I bet we will," his wife suddenly had a hard edge in her voice, "like all those other times."

"None of that's my fault!" Wells protested, his anger flaring up as usual.

"That doesn't make it any better though does it?" his wife was being belligerent again, not that he blamed her, he would be too he supposed.

"Look, just go and enjoy yourself, and tell the kids daddy loves them."

"Tell them yourself if you can be bothered, if you come back." She wasn't going to let him off easy.

"I'll see you soon dear, just a week or two, when you're back you'll have me to yourselves."

"Perhaps," a tear formed in her eye "come back safe, for the kids." She disconnected. Wells dropped his head on to the desk, his crown engulfed in the haptic interface. His marriage was falling apart because of his job and his duty. Bloody hell he was a cliché, and fuck knows he hated clichés.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter three- Investigating

The Derby was joined at the Mass Relay by the Thermopylae and the Jutland, as ordered. They went through together to maintain formation and dealt with the extra drift quickly. They arrived at their destination a few hours after their departure from Elysium and Captain Wells got straight down to business.

"Lieutenant Commander Kyung, commence scouting route." Kyung Baye, CO of the Thermopylae immediately complied, taking his ship on the predetermined scouting route which would take him round the far side of the blue giant and back to the Mass Relay in an attempt to detect and intercept any vessels that might be in the system.

"Bao-Zhi, take us into orbit," Wells addressed the helmsman, "Search and Rescue team prepare for deployment."

Approximately half an hour later, they were in orbit above the suspected wreckage of the SSV Tewekesbury.

"Lieutenant Contadino, reporting, we're ready to go sir."

"Very good, Lieutenant, commence deployment." Wells ordered. He watched from the forward viewport as the Crush Depth Atmospheric Reconnaissance Vehicle launched from the hangar, and descended towards the planet.

The CIC was silent as they waited for the recce team to report back their findings. Wells contemplated the implications of such an attack. Surely not the Reapers, he pondered, they were destroyed, and they'd perceive guerrilla warfare to be below them...

"Sir," the Lieutenant's voice came over the comm. "We've got a visual on the wreckage, it's definitely them sir, but it's only the stern and it's flat as a pancake."

"Any life signs?" the Captain asked, without any particular hope in his voice.

"Negative sir," the Russian's voice became less clear all of a sudden. "Definite signs of weapon damage. Disruptor torpedoes and mass accelerator weapons."

"Shit," the Captain swore, "get pictures for the Admiral and then exfil ASAP, I don't want to be here if whatever did that comes back."

"Yes sir," Contadino responded, "getting close ups now."

The small craft piloted by the Lieutenant was moving slowly, the power output from the thrusters working overtime in the oppressive atmosphere of the pressure cooker. She cast her eyes around the various screens, view ports created a structural weakness that just couldn't be afforded in such a vessel. What she saw alarmed her, the ship was practically flush with the surface of the planet's core and bits of the ship that had fallen out were strewn around. Not that it was possible to discern the nature of the debris.

She turned the craft around and headed back to the Derby.

"Sir, objective complete, returning to the Derby, over"

"Roger that, make it quick, I want to get out of here."

During the time Lieutenant Contadino was in atmosphere, Captain Wells had been exchanging transmissions with the captains of the frigates under his command. Kyung, of the Thermopylae reported no in system activity and the Jutland was still patrolling the immediate area of the planet. The Captain began to relax as he realised they'd all be back on Elysium by the next day, he might even make it to the holiday with his family. He smiled to himself at this realisation as Lieutenant Commander Kyung shouted over the comm.: 'Hostile vessel! Unknown classification, it's ripped right through our shields, hull breach MAYDAY...' His voice crackled and died.

The Captain tried to hail the Thermopylae, when he failed he turned his attention to the Jutland, but was unable to reach them either.

"What's wrong with the comms, who's jamming us?"

"No one we can see sir, must be the same lot who were after the Thermopylae." His XO, one Commander James Anders asserted.

"All hands to battle stations, we're going to see what happened to the Thermopylae, someone keep trying to reach the Jutland, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Sir what about Lieutenant Contadino?" One of the bridge crew, an Operations Chief, enquired.

"We'll be back for her."

Miraculously, Angela Kuln, the CO of the Jutland had had similar thoughts to Wells and was converging on the Thermopylae's last known position.

Both ships arrived to see the Thermopylae in dire straits. The armour on the starboard side had been blown away and a portion of the interior was visible. Their assailant was a massive vessel, between dreadnought and cruiser class, and was turning, distracted from the dealing the finishing blow by the arrival of the other two Alliance vessels.

"Fire on that ship!" Wells commanded, "Launch disruptor torpedoes, and bring us in as close as possible, I want to be in GARDIAN range."

Gunnery officers swept into action, disruptor torpedoes flew from the broadside and the main gun began a repeated assault on the kinetic barriers of the alien vessel. The Jutland joined in the assault and began what appeared to be a flanking manoeuvre.

The Thermopylae meanwhile was limping away from the fight but turned and began to drift away with its bow pointed towards the enemy ship. The bridge crew cheered as the Thermopylae fired a round in to the port side of the enemy, signalling that she was still in the fight.

Meanwhile the alien vessel seemed to be deciding on a target and eventually chose the Derby, unleashing the most gargantuan salvo of disruptor torpedoes Captain Wells had ever seen.

"Brace for impact!" Bao-Zhe hollered over the intercom. The crew scrambled to comply as Bao-Zhe threw the ship into a series of rolls, dives and climbs in an attempt to avoid the torpedoes. He was about 90% successful but a large number still impacted, shredding the kinetic barriers.

"Damage report!" Wells barked.

"Kinetic barriers holding at 73%, no hull breaches." Commander Anders shouted from his station.

His words came too soon as a mass accelerated round slammed into the port bow ripping through the rest of the shields and all but a sliver of the armour.

"Bao-Zhe, how long til we're alongside them?" Wells asked.

"We're there now sir, orders?"

"Deliver starboard broadside, engage GARDIAN systems, launch disruptor torpedoes!" Well's string of orders was complied with instantly and a barrage of various weapons began hammering on the alien vessel which was having difficulty manoeuvring away.

"Keep hitting them, I want those fuckers dead!" Wells ordered, "Bao-Zhe, begin circling them, don't let them get a lock on us."

"Aye aye Captain."

The GARDIAN lasers were doing well at piercing the armour of the alien vessel and the disruptor torpedoes had finally brought down the kinetic barriers. By this point the Derby was now on the port side of the alien vessel, having completed half a circuit, and the Jutland commenced an attack on the top of the ship. The Thermopylae was still sitting far off, thumping the alien vessel as much as they could.

Without warning the alien vessel rolled over, exposing its underside and dived away from the battle. A series of what appeared to be tiny fighters was disgorged from the ship's belly, they dispersed towards the Derby and the Jutland, which were closest.

"INCOMING!" The panic in Bao-Zhe's voice was apparent as the first of what turned out to be giant missiles hurtled towards the Derby. Bao-Zhe evaded as much as he could but the swarm was inescapable, they seemed to have hyper-advanced tracking software and eventually found their mark.

Miraculously, the Derby survived.

"Damage report." Captain Wells was saying this quite a lot nowadays.

Commander Anders spoke once more: "Kinetic barriers offline, GARDIAN offline, starboard guns offline, sublight thrusters offline, hull breach on several decks towards the stern. Crew casualties 12."

"What of the Jutland, the Thermopylae?"

"Thermopylae is still engaged, Jutland has broken off and is suffering worse than us."

"Can we hail either of them?" Wells wanted to know.

"Negative, neither are responding to hails, comms are still down."

"Make a beeline for the Relay, let's hope they get the message." Wells addressed no one in particular.

Bao-Zhe brought the ship about using manoeuvring burns and projected them along a path towards the relay. And after two very tense minutes it appeared that the frigates had noticed the Derby's trajectory. As they adjusted their course, Wells gave the order to jump to FTL. Half an hour later they were joined at the Mass Relay by both frigates and returned to Elysium.

As soon as they got in system, Wells activated the transmitter: "Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is the SSV Derby, our squadron has suffered major damage, request immediate crew evacuation for frigates SSV Jutland and SSV Thermopylae over."

"SSV Derby, Elysium space dock 12, dock at bay 244, rescue crews are being sent to the frigates you named over."

"Thank you, Derby out." Wells slumped into a chair and mopped his brow, he'd brought all three ships back, not in one piece, but at least there were survivors. The rescue didn't take long and all crew from the three ships who needed medical assistance were swiftly evacuated. The ships themselves were taken into dry dock to await repairs, and Wells was immediately called to Shepard's office.

"What on God's green Earth happened out there?" he asked. "How many ships did you say there were?"

"There was only one ship." Wells replied, he was standing, his peaked cap still on his head, a sign that the Admiral was not in the mood for excuses.

"Then explain to me how two frigates and a cruiser were battered into submission, whilst that one ship escaped with barely a scratch!"

"They jammed our comms, caught the Thermopylae on patrol, we only just got to them in time. Their main gun tore right through our shields and the Silaris armour. And that's before we discuss their torpedoes."

Shepard looked at Wells in shock: "How big was this ship, describe these torpedoes." He commanded.

"Between cruiser and dreadnought size." Wells obeyed, "it fires massive salvos of disruptor torpedoes, we evaded most of them but they still dropped out shields below 75%. Then they had big torpedoes, smaller than fighters but larger than ordinary torpedoes, they were inescapable, virtually all of them hit and wiped out nearly all of our primary systems. We thought we were winning before they launched those."

"Very well Captain," Shepard's tone had softened, "I shall be speaking with the captains of the other ships. By the sounds of it you've earned your extended shore leave. Thank you for taking this mission, I'll be recommending you for a medal."

"Yes sir, thank you sir." Wells responded.

"Dismissed Captain." Shepard stood and saluted Wells, a sign of great respect given Wells' subordinate rank. Wells returned the salute and pivoted on his heel before marching out of the office.

Wells was glad to be out of there, but at the same time couldn't help but feel elated at the prospect of a medal, perhaps this would win him some favour with the missus. He walked quickly to the skycar park and flagged down a taxi to take him home. Upon his arrival he packed quickly and activated his omni-tool, initiating a call to his wife.

"Harry! I didn't expect to hear from you so soon." His wife sounded stressed, the children were probably being difficult.

"I'm back on leave, the mission got done quickly, where are you?"

"We're at the spaceport, check in closes in an hour, you'd better get here quickly."

"Will do, see you soon honey." He disconnected and raced back outside to his cab and arrived just in time to board with his family.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Cross-Referencing

Alliance Cluster HQ, Elysium, Skyllian Verge, 28th May 2190

Admiral Shepard sat in his office, facing Lieutenant Commander Kyung Baye (Thermopylae) and Commander Angela Kuln (Jutland). Unlike Wells, they were sitting down.

"I've had Captain Wells explain the basic series of events, but now I want the tale again from your perspectives. Commander Kuln, if you would do the honours."

"Sir, I don't have much to add to what Captain Wells said, however it occurs to me that on the Jutland we didn't observe the Crush Depth Atmospheric Reconnaissance Vehicle docking with the Derby."

Shepard's brow furrowed,

"Captain Wells didn't mention picking it up, I assumed he did so before moving to assist the Thermopylae... This certainly bears further investigation." He reached over and opened a comms channel to the space dock where the Derby was moored.

"Space Dock 12, Service Chief Mills here, how can I help sir?"

"Chief Mills, are any of the crew of the SSV Derby unaccounted for?"

"Yes sir, just one, Lieutenant Claudina Contadino, the operator for the Crush Depth Atmospheric Reconnaissance Vehicle. She wasn't found on board. Records show her vehicle did not re-enter the hangar."

"Roger that Chief, thanks for your time, Shepard out."

Shepard turned to face the officers, looking grim once more, "This matter requires my attention, do not speak of it to anyone, dismissed."

"Aye sir." They chorused before standing, saluting, and exiting.f

As they left, Shepard's terminal beeped and he accepted the transmission:

"Shepard, I got your message," Admiral of the Fleet Mikhailovitz spoke, "This is troubling news indeed, do you have any further information."

"Yes sir, I dispatched a cruiser and two frigates to investigate, it's not good."

"Well Shepard hurry up and spit it out, we haven't got all day." Mikhailovitz interrupted just as Shepard took a breath. Gritting his teeth, Shepard replied:

"Aye sir, the Crush Depth Atmospheric Reconnaissance Vehicle confirmed that the wreckage was the stern section of the SSV Tewkesbury, no survivors, escape pods or distress beacons. No indication of what attacked them, the Black Box couldn't be recovered because we are yet to locate the bow. Although it's likely it was utterly destroyed."

"In what way utterly destroyed?" Mikhailowitz looked sceptical.

"Blown apart, obliterated." Shepard said bluntly, "The ships I sent to investigate nearly suffered a similar fate, the mass accelerated punched clean through the kinetic barriers and the armour of the SSV Derby. But the biggest concern is what appears to be a new type of weapon."

"Reaper technology?"

"Nothing we ever saw them use." Shepard went on to detail each and every aspect of what they'd discovered, ending with the revelation that Lieutenant Contadino had been left behind.

"Where is Captain Wells now?" Mihailowitz asked, "He should be court-martialled for dereliction of duty!"

"He did very well under the circumstances sir, he had to retreat, his flotilla was on the verge of destruction. I recommend tasking a Normandy class vessel to conduct a full investigation."

"And risk the destruction of a priceless vessel? That's not going to happen Shepard, your glory days are over, I'm not sending you gallivanting across the galaxy again."

"Sir, I'm not proposing that, I want to send a long range stealth frigate to find out who is responsible for this. Admiral, we can't let a threat to the Alliance, and possibly other Council races go unchecked."

"For once I agree with you Shepard, I'll inform Councillor Anderson." He disconnected, with a pompous look on his face.

Shepard always hated their little chats, he still hadn't heard back from Anderson and he was expecting a response. It was surprisingly late by this point and he was starting to consider knocking off.


End file.
